When All Else Fails
by thisism3smiling
Summary: Too blinded by the lure of a wish that could save her, he ignored every single warning he'd been given about the jewel. A 3-piece drabble series about being careful what you wish for.  Inu/Kag
1. When All Else Fails

_**When All Else Fails**__**  
><strong>__{ 15 _June 2010 _} Written for Eternal Destiny. Prompt: "Desperate." Lyrics and inspiration courtesy of "Dreaming Wide Awake" by Poets of the Fall, an episode of Supernatural, and Final Destination ;) WARNING: Character Death.  
><em>

"Kagome, wake up," he whispered. When the miko who lay parallel in his arms refused to wake, he gave her a little shake, knowing all the while—as the desperate often did—that that, and nothing else he'd try would work. Her skin was too pale, her body too limp and fragile. Though she wasn't quite dead, her wispy breathing told him that in a few moments she would be and desperately, InuYasha wanted to cling by the points of his nails to those few seconds Kagome had left by him.

_Too late, the melody is over  
>The joke seems to be on me 'cause I'm the one not laughing<br>Down here on the floor_

He felt the hated tears stinging his eyes. "Damn it," he muttered, pushing his face onto her shoulder. This scene was all too familiar. Why did the Kami insist on making him suffer the same things twice? Why did they force him to fall in love with the same girl all over again, only to lose her all over again?

_Deflate, the mystery of living  
>In the most heartless fashion I could ever Imagine<br>No pretense of décor_

`_It's not fucking fair!_' he thought angrily, wanting to lash out at the world. He couldn't do so with Kagome in his arms. Instead, he shifted her onto his lap.

…and saw something roll out onto the muddy ground beside her.

`_What the…?_'

Carefully maneuvering around his dying love his fingers skittered across the ground for the fallen object. Somewhere in the back of his grief-stricken mind, he knew exactly what it was.

_Another place and time, without a great divide  
>And we could be flying deadly high<em>

Hope swelled in his chest when his fingers latched onto it. Too blinded by the lure of a wish that could save her, he ignored every single warning he'd been given about the jewel. He ignored every one of her stuttering pleas not to use it.

All he knew was the tainted salvation pulsing out of the jewel and onto his love, then the joy of watching it reanimate her.

The consequences, he decided, could be reaped later.

…_I'll sell my soul to dream you wide awake…_


	2. Make A Wish

_**Make A Wish**__**  
><strong>__{ 23 _June 2010 _} Written for Eternal Destiny. Prompt: "Wet." WARNING: Character Death.  
><em>

His breath hitched when her eyelashes fluttered. Relief washed over him as color flooded back into her cheeks. He'd been so scared, thinking he'd lost her again, but when she spluttered and choked up the swallowed water, InuYasha allowed himself a smile.

"You _idiot_!"

The slap came as a surprise, wiping the smirk off his face just as suddenly as it spread. He gazed confusedly at Kagome, one hand gingerly touching his cheek. For a human—and a human who had nearly brushed with death at that—she hit pretty hard.

The miko balled her hands into fists. "You almost drowned me! What's wrong with you?"

"I—what?"

"_You_," she jabbed a finger in his face, "almost drowned _me_," then turned the finger on herself, looking furious. Water dripped from her soaking wet hair onto her quickly reddening face. InuYasha gulped, sure that if he hadn't been holding her, she would have sat him for his offense.

In retrospect, what he did was pretty dumb. Kagome had been getting herself a drink when he came crashing toward her, wanting to protect her from some absent danger—though at the time, danger seemed a lot more present. She had been bent at an awkward angle, looking as if she might fall into the stream, and though the water looked calm now, he could have sworn the stream flowed more rapidly. So, in trying to save her from drowning, he nearly drowned her.

"You've been acting weird all day," Kagome observed, folding her arms across her chest, "and more protective of me than usual."

"K-keh," InuYasha stammered weakly to keep his foot away from his mouth. Despite his efforts, Kagome still found wrong in his statement. Angrily, she pulled away from him.

"Why? Because I'm such a clumsy wench?" she demanded. "I can't believe you! _SIT_!"

Before he crashed face-first into the muddy bank, InuYasha's eyes grew wide with horror.

"Kagome, that's not what I-_aaaaugh_," he grunted, powerless to stop her as she stomped away. He squeezed his eyes shut, mentally counting the seconds that ticked by, knowing what would happen.

"**_INUYASHA!_**" like clockwork, she wailed out from a distance.

Instead of jumping to her rescue when the subjugation let up InuYasha fisted the ground, moaning as a swell of pain, anger, and grief washed over him.

"Damn it," he muttered, noting the purple orb that rolled out toward him.

"Not again…"


	3. But Be Careful What You Wish For

_**But Be Careful What You Wish For**__**  
><strong>__{ 23 _June 2010 _} Written for Eternal Destiny. Prompt: "Suffering." WARNING: Character Death._

"Ye can't keep doing this," Kaede cautioned, watching with apprehension in her single blue eye as InuYasha squeezed gently on the Shikon jewel. In his hands, the orb burst into tiny, glittering lights that like fire-bugs all swarmed for Kagome, breathing life into the still-warm girl. The elder miko watched him sigh, noting the bags under his eyes and his graying pallor. She also noticed, somewhat heavy-hearted, that no matter how many times he revived Kagome, the relief and joy at seeing her breathe one more time always lit up his face like it did the first time.

InuYasha knew there was truth to Kaede's words, but ignoring them, he relished momentarily Kagome's sleepy sigh as she sat up dazed, her only memories being those that she had before dying. She didn't remember the food poising that killed her this time, or impaling herself on a twig the night before.

…and she certainly forgot about Naraku and how she had died by one of his tentacles, and the infection that killed her the day after.

The jewel made sure to erase any and all traces of death, leaving behind only his memories and the daily suffering because he couldn't let go.

.

"I know," he whispered one day and Kaede gazed at him curiously, wondering his meaning. InuYasha nodded toward Kagome who suddenly tripped, her head colliding fatally with a rock. By now he was either used to her dying or apt at hiding his feelings whenever she did so. He said nothing for a moment as he bent to pick up the newly regenerated Shikon Jewel.

"The only way to get rid of this thing—and the only way to stop this—is to make a wish that isn't selfish," InuYasha recited, echoing words that belonged to Kaede herself. Somewhat shakily he squeezed the jewel as if his intent were to break it.

"I know that," he repeated. "I fucking _know_, but I would give anything…"

'…_for one more smile, one more intake of breath. One more day with her to hope I get it right_.'

"Even your sanity?" Kaede wondered aloud, seeing how much this was killing him.

InuYasha's voice was hard when he replied without hesitating: "_Anything_."

Then he closed his eyes and made a wish on the jewel.

Consequences be damned.


End file.
